[Oasfaa] FW: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] Top 5 Reasons to Attend SWASFAA

Tue Oct 20 10:23:10 CDT 2015

These are the best reasons yet to attend SWASFAA and the week's activities!

Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.
Assistant Director
Office of Student Financial Aid
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301
Oklahoma City, OK  73117
(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)
(405) 271-5446 (f)
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu 
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/ 

 Become our fan on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This email, including any attachments, contains information from The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, which may be confidential or privileged.  The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above.  If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by a “reply to sender only” message and destroy all electronic and hard copies of the communication, including attachments.

-----Original Message-----
From: SWASFAA Team Chatter [mailto:blog at swasfaa.org] 
Sent: Monday, October 19, 2015 1:24 PM
To: Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC) <Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu>
Subject: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] Top 5 Reasons to Attend SWASFAA

SWASFAA Team Chatter has posted a new item, 'Top 5 Reasons to Attend SWASFAA'

Friday, October 23rd, is the early bird registration deadline for the SWASFAA conference, boot camp, and leadership conference. Here is one last blog about some of the reasons you should attend, in no particular order.

5. Fellowship with other financial aid administrators. One of the most important parts of a conference is coming together with others in the industry to discuss best practices, benchmarking, and other hot topics in financial aid. Wednesday night, November 4th, everyone will have a chance to grab dinner on their own.
This would be a great time to visit with your colleagues. Although the conference site offers plenty of eating options, if you’re interested in leaving the hotel, you should consider having dinner at Sandiago’s, where you can see the beautiful city lights from the base of the Sandia Mountains. At 6:30 p.m., the Sandia Resort & Casino will provide roundtrip shuttle transportation to the restaurant. Here is a link to the restaurant’s website, in case you’re interested. This has one of the best views of the city, so don’t miss out on this opportunity.

4. NASFAA Credentials. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an increase in job postings looking for people with NASFAA credentials to prove they have mastered the knowledge in various subject areas. Anyone who attends boot camp or the leadership workshop will have an opportunity to take free NASFAA credential exams. We will provide the attendees with free study materials, and you’ll have up to 90 days to prepare for the tests. These credential exams are no joke, and the euphoria you’ll experience after you’ve passed the exam(s) will be just the shot of adrenaline you need to reinvigorate your brain after all that studying.

3. Opportunity to visit with vendors about their services. Our industry has changed a lot over the past few years. Once the FFEL program went away, the landscape of our professional associations began to shift. But one thing didn’t change--SWASFAA’s associate members are still a valuable part of our community. If you need help with developing a default management plan or a financial literacy program, many of our exhibitors can assist you with those efforts. Please take some time to visit the exhibit hall and talk to our twenty exhibitors about the products they offer.

2. Federal Student Aid and NASFAA trainers. Kevin Campbell and Jeff Baker from the U.S. Department of Education are both attending the SWASFAA Conference, so you’ll have a chance to ask them all your burning questions. Justin Draeger, the NASFAA President/CEO, and Dan Mann, the NASFAA National Chair, will also be at the SWASFAA Conference to give us all the latest news about what’s happening on the Hill. Do you have questions about the letters the USDE sent your college president about those pesky Gainful Employment errors? Do you want to know what’s going on with reauthorization? Do you have recommendations on improvements that need to be made to the overabundance of consumer information that takes forever to put together and nobody ever reads? Here’s your chance to talk to the experts!

1. School panel sessions. One of the great advantages of attending the conference is hearing a wide variety of experiences from people across different sectors and states. Exchanging ideas on best practices can help us all to grow in our profession.

Here’s one more reason I’m excited about SWASFAA: I finally get to pass the gavel! Enough said.

In all seriousness, being president of SWASFAA for the past two years has been the best professional experience of my life. I don’t think anything will ever top it. I’ve enjoyed meeting so many people and traveling all over the region to attend the state conferences. Last week I visited the TASFAA folks in Austin, and this week I’m heading to Lake Charles to see everyone in LASFAA.

The first week of November will be here before we know it, and I look forwarding to seeing you all in the beautiful city of Albuquerque.

--Andrew

You may view the latest post at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__swasfaa.org_b_conference_5_&d=AwIDaQ&c=qRnFByZajCb3ogDwk-HidsbrxD-31vTsTBEIa6TCCEk&r=-Lnq0C7sCiFyP0whbJJ3dxf5JnVjhYZXejVPgZDRGLk&m=485OJu6GW2s18X7q_vxbjK6jkzJipdw2zE3nKTpTIl8&s=OcycJdWAadrIehBIblTxeVwibMIboDxKxYZLBTKkMhk&e= 

You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are posted.